Your Word is not Enough
by Lily Summers
Summary: 5 years ago, Ginny had spilled her soul to a diary. Without knowing it, Tom Riddle himself had given her part of his own soul. Now, Voldemort wants it back. His only hope? For a sleek, blonde boy in Slytherin to be-friend the girl.
1. Lucifer’s Message

Disclaimer: All the characters you recognize here from Harry Potter are not mine. They are J.K. Rowling's creations and I take no credit for these ingenious characters. So please don't sue! I'm making no money with this and that means I only have three pennies and a sack of beans! So there's really no point in suing me anyhow.  
  
A/N: I have written this SO long ago and I never bothered to post it. So thanks to my very pushy beta reader, Rachel, here's my story. So thanks to both of my beta-readers Rachel and Lily (no, not me.) :) Please review! Enjoy!  
  
Chapter One- Everyone knew their love was wrong. Their love had begun because of Lucifer's message itself.  
  
Lucifer's Message  
  
Harry Potter awoke drenched in sweat and shaking, his scar throbbing. He pushed his palms against his forehead in a feeble attempt to stop the pain. There were few reasons why his scar would hurt so much. He knew that some thousand miles away, or not, Voldemort was angry, very angry.  
  
*  
  
'What is the matter now Wormtail!?' Voldemort's red serpent eyes burned a hole into the cowering man's head.  
  
'My Lord, there was a problem with the spell.' Wormtail shielded his face with his hands as he said this, as though it would actually shield him from the Cruciatus curse if Voldemort would decide to punish him.  
  
Voldemort turned sharply towards the fire. At this movement, the short man fell onto his back from pure fear. Voldemort hissed in disgust at this sheepish reaction.  
  
'WHAT Wormtail, WHAT has gone wrong!?' Voldemort's patience was wearing thin. 'The spell should have worked. It would have made me more powerful than ever, more powerful than even.Dumbledore.' Voldemort hid a shudder and continued, 'Lucius himself confirmed the dark spell would work. We have all the ingredients; we have killed the sufficient number of people and spilled more than enough blood.' He paused for a minute, watching the dancing flames in the fire and heard Wormtail's whimpers. 'So, my dear Wormtail, could you tell me what could have possibly gone wrong?' Voldemort kept his red eyes glued on the fire as Wormtail managed to scamper off the floor like the rat he was.  
  
'My Lord. The spell from the ancient tombs is correct. We have done all, there was just one thing missing.' Voldemort gave a scowl and Wormtail continued quickly in hopes of escaping a rather painful curse. 'What the spell does in enforce the soul-'  
  
'I KNOW WHAT THE CURSE DOES YOU DUMBSTRUCK IDIOT! WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS WHY IT DID NOT WORK!' Voldemort looked away from the fire now into Wormtail's unworthy eyes. 'My patience is wearing thin Wormtail. And consider yourself lucky to be warned, I have more than half a mind to use the Cruciatus curse on you right now.' His voice had gone dangerously low.  
  
Wormtail whimpered. 'SPEAK!' Voldemort had already drawn his wand from his pocket and was pointing it at Wormtail, his long skeletal fingers gripping the handle hard.  
  
'Master! Please! I beg mercy; I say all I know to you! I am loyal to you! The reason that the spell did not work my lord is because you do not have all of your soul. Some of your soul is not within you.' Wormtail cowered against a corner now as Voldemort turned back to the fire and sat in a black arm chair. A large green snake had slithered onto Voldemort's lap and he was now stroking his head as he spoke, 'Do you mean to tell me I do not have all my soul in my body? I have never given my soul to anyone, nor shared it.' He hissed and Wormtail advanced slightly from the corner.  
  
'Six years ago, my Lord. When the young Virginia Weasley had passed part of her soul to you as she wrote in your diary, you passed her an extremely small portion of your own by writing back. But the spell will not work if even the smallest fraction of your soul is missing.'  
  
Wormtail's words seemed to melt into the air. Voldemort stared hard into the fire. His eyes reflecting the flames as well as his mood.  
  
'Can you not think of a simple way to get it back, Wormtail?' Voldemort spat at Wormtails stupidity. It wasn't common knowledge to most of the wizarding world. But the most powerful wizards knew that the soul a person possessed flowed through their veins in their blood, in their heart. All he would have to do is kill the girl and drain her heart of its blood. It would not be one of his hardest tasks.  
  
'Sir. It is not as easy as it makes out to be. The curse is protected by a very weak counter curse placed by powerful wizards. They did not manage to stop the spell completely but they did make it a lot harder to complete. There can be no other magic except for the spell itself used to achieve this. Magic can't even be used on the people whom console with her. That is why the blood shed had to be done the muggle way.'  
  
Voldemort could see the problem with this. He would not be able to put the girl under the Imperius curse to get her to the graveyard where he needed to make the slaughter, as the spell had to be made where the remains of his father lay. Another annoying condition of the spell. He would not be able to Stun her or control anyone in contact with her. But he could simply send one of his Death Eaters to get the girl. There would be no need for magic; just strength. Voldemort voiced this to the small rat-like man beside him.  
  
'The girl,' Wormtail's voice was even more cowardly as he was about to upset his Dark Lord very much. 'The girl must want to go to the graveyard. She has to be willing to go.'  
  
Voldemort did not see how this could be done. He could not use magic so he could not make her want to come. She surely wouldn't take the word of anyone loyal to him and he could not use a spell to make someone close to her convince her. Also, they would surely not agree to this under a threat without magic when they could use magic themselves. Voldemort glared angrily at Wormtail, his wand in his right hand up and about ready to take some of his frustration out on Wormtail. He was about to mutter 'crucio' when he was struck with an idea.  
  
'Malfoy's boy,' he demanded of Wormtail who was now on the floor expecting the worst. 'He goes to Hogwarts does he not?' Wormtail squeaked in agreement.  
  
'He must get close to the girl, befriend her, seduce her, and make her love him. Then she would trust him. He could lead her to me. I would need to use no magic; I know I can trust the Malfoys. They have been loyal to me. Yes.this will work out just fine,' Voldemort smirked in satisfaction, and seeing this, Wormtail had the courage to stand and slightly smirk as well. As soon as he did Voldemort turned.  
  
'CRUCIO!'  
  
Wormtail screamed and lay twitching wildly on the floor as Voldemort walked through the threshold of the door into the musty hallway.  
  
* * *  
  
iGinny lay on a cold stone floor, she was shivering and hurt. Tears trickled down her bleeding cheeks. A tall dark figure stud in front of her, arms raised. A long skeletal hand grasped her on the shoulder and she let out a scream of pain. It was not the hand causing the pain, but a harsh, hot pain on her chest. It hurt so badly, she twitched in pain and her breath sped. A red light was glowing beneath her robes. She reached and grabbed a crystal connected to a white gold chain that she apparently wore around her neck. The crystal was clear and tear shaped with a liquid centre which at the moment glowed red and exposed extreme heat. Ginny could not hold it any more, the pain was starting to numb her and she wished it would stop, she wished she was dead.  
  
'No!' a voice hissed from somewhere in front of Ginny and there was an explosion of white light.  
  
Darkness sped into every corner of her mind./i  
  
Ginny awoke, gasping like a fish out of water. Her chest burned incredibly and her breathing was rapid and unusual. Everything was blurry and for a few moments Ginny had no idea where she laid. As the pain subsided and the blur in her eyes retreated, the top of her four-poster came into view. She lay on her bed, Ginny now remembered, in Hogwarts. Her sheets were tangled and drenched in sweat.  
  
Ginny sat up in her bed, her back against the backboard. She peeked her head from inside her bed hangings and saw Liz, Michelle, Stephanie and Emma, her roommates, sleeping peacefully in their beds. Something told Ginny that it was too late to go back to sleep but too early to be awake. Ginny quietly stumbled from her bed, the dream still vivid in her head but fading quickly. She opened the chest at the foot of her bed and rummaged through it for about a minute until she retrieved a small black box from a hidden compartment. She sat back down on her bed with the box, using the palm of her hand to clean away the dust that had settled atop it. She lifted the lid form the box and laid it gently upon her bed. From the box Ginny extracted a rather pretty looking necklace - in fact, the very same necklace from her dream. The clear, drop-shaped jewel hung from a fine white gold chain. The only difference was that the liquid centre in the crystal was not a dangerous red, but a cool silver liquid. Even as Ginny wrapped her hand around the jewel a cool tranquil sensation broke out through her body and relaxed her.  
  
This necklace had been given to Ginny when she was twelve, only two months after her aunt had died. Adrian Sivilus, Ginny's aunt had once been a great Auror. She had defeated countless evils and had even served the Order of the Phoenix many times. It had been on one dreadful October afternoon that Adrian had been killed by a Death Eater. But Ginny had never been close to her aunt and had only seen her as a small child. It had been two weeks later that a large and powerful bird had swooped through Ginny's window and laid a black box and a note upon her bed. The box had contained this very necklace and the note had simply read:  
  
iMy dearest Virginia,  
  
This is a gift for you. If you are receiving this before your coming of age I have indeed passed away. I would like to present you with this gift in hopes that one day it may come of some use to you. It is a spirit stone; it tells the wearer if the spirit of those around her is stained. The instructions are included inside the box. Use it well.  
  
Best wishes,  
  
Adrian Shane Sivilus. /i  
  
Unfortunately, the instructions seemed to have been lost in the delivery but Ginny had pretty much figured it out. When Fred and George had lied about putting fizz bombs in Ron's bed, the stone that Ginny hid from the rest of the family under her cloaks (she preferred to keep her belongings to herself) had turned red and given off slight heat. And as when anyone lied, including herself the liquid within the stone would turn red and give off heat. It was a sort of lie detector. It made sense as the note had said it would detect a stained soul, and a lying one was definitely a stained one.  
  
Ginny looked around her dark dorm. She could hear her roommates breathing softly in deep sleep. Ginny decided that since she probably wasn't going to go back to bed she might as well take a shower and maybe even take a quick ride on her broom down on the Quidditch pitch. Not many people knew she liked to fly. She would usually do this at odd times of this day when it was very early or late. She liked the feeling of being alone and free, the wind in her face and how her hair flapped in the wind as she soared and glided on her broom. Ginny would often fly to high up places where there weren't any people and write her poetry and journal entries. Although don't be mistaken, Ginny still didn't like Quidditch very much, it was a brutal sport really. She glided silently back over to her trunk and took out a towel, a pair of muggle jeans and a light baby blue tank top. She had recently started experimenting with muggle clothes and rather liked how it looked on her. Some teachers objected to this though, so during classes, she would wear her robes and skirt. Ginny put the necklace back in her trunk and went off to the girls' washroom to take a shower and ponder over the strange dream she had had.  
  
Ginny was now in her sixth year at Hogwarts. She had recently had her sweet sixteen and she looked the part too. Ginny was taller than she had been back in first year although compared to the average Hogwarts student she was still relatively short. Ginny's flaming red hair, which she had refused to cut short as her mother wanted her to, reached her lower back. Her looks had changed immensely over the summer. Instead of childish and cute she was now slim, curved and gorgeous, which of course, all of the boys in Hogwarts had noticed. Including a certain Draco Malfoy.  
  
* * *  
  
A glinting flash of gold teased the blond boy as it passed right above his head. Draco noticed this and went into a quick dive. He stretched out his hand in hopes of catching the Snitch, and succeeding without any trouble. He held the Snitch tight in his palm for a moment before releasing it once more and giving it a 10-second head start. Draco Malfoy was now in his seventh and final year at Hogwarts. Draco had become, over the years, a very skillful Seeker. His eyes were sharp and his reflexes more so. His father had finally caved in and bought Draco a Firebolt, so this year, it would be a fair fight against Potter. Draco had, as a result of his extreme improvements in Quidditch, been made the Slytherin Quidditch captain.  
  
His final year at Hogwarts also meant other changes and events would soon take place. Draco was to take his proud place as a Death Eater in the summer to come. The truth was that Draco Malfoy was no longer crazy about the idea of becoming a Death Eater. He had recently turned 17 and he was starting to mature and form his own opinions. Draco had never been fond of his abusive father but had always thought himself taking after Lucius as a Death Eater. He had never had a second thought about it until recently. He had started to think Voldemort's ideas were a bit out there. A little too, 'oh look, I'm the evil villain trying to take over the world,' sort of thing. He had also never really taken in the seriousness of the situation. He had never really thought what it would mean to be a Death Eater until recently when he started to feel Death Eater blood in him. All Death Eater children were born with Death Eater blood, better known as black blood. It wouldn't really affect the child until the coming of age (eighteen) when it would be used to give the child the Dark Mark, just another way for Voldemort to keep track of his followers really. But now that Draco was approaching this age, he could feel the blood. It gave him a thirst to kill, made him angry and raged. And he didn't like to be controlled like that. He was definitely not looking forwards to becoming a Death Eater as so many of his fellow Slytherins were. Draco shook the thought out of him and went back to looking for the Snitch. He immediately saw the flash of gold above the right hoop on the opposite end of the field. He arched his broom slightly and sped towards the Snitch.  
  
He had just about reached it when a red blur raced across the field and caught the Snitch! Draco had just reached that end of the field to find none other than Ginny Weasley holding the Snitch in her hand. He noticed she was rather good, as she had played Seeker for a few months while Potter had been banned from playing Quidditch, but nothing compared to himself, of course.  
  
'Did you know that someone has let the Snitch out?' she said, obviously not noticing who flew behind her.  
  
'Yes Weasley, I did know. I let it out. And if you wouldn't mind I was practicing.'  
  
Ginny swiveled her head and looked at Draco's cold grey eyes. He now only realized that she was wearing muggle clothes.  
  
'What are you doing out here so early in the morning?' she looked at his annoyed expression but held the Snitch tightly in her hand which was struggling hard to get free. It was still relatively dark and the sun hung about halfway to a full sunrise. It must have been about 5:30.  
  
'I told you Weasel, I was practicing!' Draco was annoyed at her presence. He wanted her to go away and leave him alone. Flying and practicing at odd times of the day had become Draco's getaway from thoughts of his father and Voldemort. He liked the time he spent alone flying through the crisp morning (or night) air. Now she was intruding on him.  
  
'Now if you don't mind leaving-'  
  
'Excuse me Malfoy! But I'm not going anywhere,' Ginny did a little half spin on her broom, letting the slight breeze push back her hair which was down at the moment. 'This isn't your field, I don't happen to see your name on it.'  
  
Draco sighed, annoyed, and got his wand out of his robe pockets. He flew over to the closest stand, which happened to be Hufflepuff's, and wrote his name in big dark glowing green letters.  
  
Quidditch Field - Property of Draco Malfoy.  
  
'There. See my name? Now go, shoo little Weasley, shoo!'  
  
Ginny stared at him in annoyance but she seemed slightly interested. She tilted her Cleansweep slightly as to appear taller than Draco and flew closer to him with only inches apart. With the hand in which she held the Snitch, she punched him lightly so it wouldn't hurt him, but would knock him backwards anyhow. She then let go of the Snitch. Still looking straight into his eyes, a mischievous smile crept onto Ginny's face.  
  
'Tell you what; I'll race you for it. First one to catch the Snitch.'  
  
Draco looked at her. One eyebrow raised, an annoyed smirk upon his face. He didn't want to deal with a Weasley, especially this Weasley. But it seemed quite obvious that she was not going to leave if he didn't do this, so he groaned in acceptance.  
  
'Fine, but you have to leave after I catch it,'  
  
'Hey! Who said you were going to catch it?' And with that, Ginny flew higher. Her head swiveled from side to side in search of the glittering gold. Draco sighed and took his place on the other end of the field, looking around. He immediately spotted the snitch near the Slytherin stands, but he did not dive for it. He looked at the youngest Weasley with interest, as she swerved her head from one place to another. He was amused watching her, he knew where the Snitch was and she didn't.  
  
Draco didn't know what had happened to Ginny over the summer but she looked absolutely gorgeous. She had grown taller, curvier and slim. Her skin was soft and her hair shone brightly under the rising suns rays, and if he said so himself, she looked quite stunning in muggle clothes. He for one knew that she had smitten most of the boys in Hogwarts, including many of his fellow Slytherins. If he hadn't been a Malfoy, and she hadn't been a Weasley he might have been caught staring at her in the hallways and in the Great Hall. But Draco's hate for the Weasleys went deeper than looks.  
  
The young Weasley went into a dive headfirst, and Draco noticed he had been staring at her, distracted from the Snitch. He too went into a dive. Even though Ginny was a lot closer to the Snitch, it would be no competition. A Firebolt against a Cleansweep was something to laugh about. But he was a Malfoy, he didn't laugh. Draco knew he would reach the stands a lot quicker than she would and so he did. He grabbed the Snitch in his right hand. He was about to turn and smirk at the girl when he felt a sharp pain in his side. Ginny had no idea why she had done it. She didn't think of him as Malfoy, just a guy who had what she wanted in his hands, so she dove. Draco's eyes filled with tears, but they weren't from the pain, they were of laughter. Ginny had taken to tickling his side and grabbing for the Snitch in his right hand. It wasn't a good idea to tickle someone on a broom while in the air, which Ginny discovered as they both fell onto the ground below, luckily only about a meter from where they had just been flying. She still did not give up. Ginny had found this a good way to deal with her brothers when they had taken something of hers. She was sure she had heard Malfoy laugh, it was strange but it stopped immediately as he loosened his grip on the snitch and she grabbed it from his hands.  
  
Malfoy lay on the ground, gasping for air. It had been a long time since he had laughed and it seemed his lungs were not used to the idea. His side ached and he groaned, wiping the tears from his eyes. Draco wished with all his might that no one had just seen that.  
  
'What the-'  
  
'I WIN!' Ginny pronounced proudly as she held the Snitch up for him to see.  
  
'No you do not. I caught it first. I win.'  
  
'You caught it first but I have it now don't I?' Ginny grinned and Draco couldn't help but grin himself. As fast as that grin had come though, it was gone, replaced by an annoyed smirk.  
  
'You cheated,' he stated, holding his aching side.  
  
'Since when are Slytherins concerned with cheating?' she looked at him.  
  
Draco suddenly remembered that he wanted to be alone and frowned.  
  
'Since I wanted you to go away,' he said in a cold voice that sent chills down Ginny's spine. She finally acknowledged what had just happened. She had tickled Malfoy, MALFOY of all people! Was she going insane? She blushed madly as she watched Draco's disgusted expression.  
  
'Fine,' she stood and glared at him. 'I didn't want to use this stupid field anyway. I don't even like Quidditch.' She took hold of her broom and swung her leg over it, with more hatred towards Draco than ever before. She kicked off the ground and glided upwards; until she was nothing but a speck in the sky and flew in the direction of the lake where Draco lost visibility of her.  
  
Draco sat there for a second, looking at the spot where Ginny had just been. His side still ached a bit so he still hadn't gotten up. Draco was angry at the little Weasel. What nerve did she have to tickle him, touch him and make him laugh out of all things? What if someone had seen them? They would have told his father for sure and then what?  
  
Draco got up, brushing the dirt off of his robes. He grabbed his broom and the Sn - damn! Ginny had taken the Snitch! Well he wasn't about to chase after her after what she had done. She could keep it for all he cared. He didn't want to see that face, those eyes, those lips.right at this moment, he was more annoyed at the Weasley than usual. 'I should have hexed her when she did that to me.' he thought to himself. Why hadn't he hexed her? If it had been any other Weasley he would have done a bit more than yell at them.  
  
He had just gotten off the Quidditch pitch and was walking back to the castle when he spotted a large shadow circle him on the ground. The next second, a large reptile-like bird had landed in front of him. Its wings were those of a dragon, as well were its claws and tail. The rest of the bird was covered in feathers and it had a sharp eagle-like beak. The bird brought an essence of great importance to itself.  
  
'Get out of the way Lucifer,' Draco warned the bird. Lucifer was his father's bird. It was half dragon, half eagle. He had never gotten along with this bird. It was extremely faithful to Lucius, but once with Draco, it would claw and bite him wildly. The bird circled Draco slowly, extending its neck and pecking at his robes threateningly. It then dropped a black envelope in front of Draco that it had been holding in its beak. Lucifer gave a loud caw and snipped at Draco's arm violently before taking off again. Draco stared at his bleeding arm then at the letter. He took it off the ground and took out a long piece of fine parchment which had an 'M' on the top. It was from his father. His hands flinched as though the letter was burning him as he read it. His eyes widened in shock, eyebrows raised. He put the letter on the ground and used a spell to burn it to ash as the letter instructed him to do. Clutching his Firebolt hard he walked back to the castle in hopes of some breakfast, the last few words of the letter still rummaging in his brain.  
  
.You have until graduation. It all depends on you boy. Do not fail the curse, do not fail me and do not fail the dark lord. Virginia Weasley must trust you. She must love you. Do anything in your power to make her love you.  
  
The letter went on to tell Draco of the spell and what he had to do.  
  
i ... Do anything in your power to make her love you. /i  
  
'This,' Draco thought to himself, 'is going to be one interesting year.'  
  
_________________________________________________________________  
  
A/N: There's more to come, I'm halfway done the second chapter. Just a hint, reviews make me write faster! ;) 


	2. Trapped Within Your Eyes

A/N: I'm sorry it took so long for me to finish this, guys. I just had so much to do and I also had to finish my other fic, but here it is! The second chapter and it's a nice long one too. It's also chock full of that romantic angst tension between Draco and Ginny we love so much! ;) I actually wasn't expecting it to be this long but what can I say? When I begin to write I get lost. Thank you so much all those people who reviewed my story, I LOVE reviews. I'm really proud of this chapter and I hope you guys really like it, please R/R! Thanks!  
  
Thanks to my beta Rachel! She edited this so quickly and well! Thank you so, so much! I dedicate this chapter to you because I know how busy you are and you took all that time just for me. You're the best!  
  
I also had another beta reader but she's taking a while to beta read my story and I've e-mailed her a couple of times with no response. She must be busy so I'm going to post the chapter now and when she sends it back I might re-post.  
  
Warning: Just a reminder this story is rated PG-13. Know that some sexual references are made in this story, all of course kept in the limits of PG- 13.  
  
Btw. one * means change of view from one character to another. Three * * * means later on, that time has passed.  
  
Disclaimer: Ahhh.how I wish I could own Draco *sighs* but I don't. Nor do I own any of these other characters you recognize from the marvelous J.K Rowling books, they belong to her. I just take them all and mess with their lives for our enjoyment.  
  
Cheers!  
  
Chapter 2 ~ Trapped Within Your Eyes  
  
'You say you're cold, you say you're cruel. You say you don't care for anyone but yourself. But your eyes break when I gaze upon them, and if you'll let me, I'll seek out your you within them.'  
  
'Blaise,' Draco breathed seductively as he stared at the beautiful, elegant woman before him. Her violet eyes shone violently at him and her long, straight, waist-length black hair swung from side to side as she took one threatening step closer.  
  
'Don't you dare try that with me again, Malfoy,' she hissed, 'I saw you and Pansy last night heading towards your bedroom.' She stopped suddenly, a slightly pained expression on her face. 'You told me you had broken it off with her, Draco.'  
  
Draco rolled his eyes over Blaise's perfect, slim body. Blaise was in fact, without a doubt, the most beautiful and deadly Slytherin woman of all. The only person who could compare to her snake-like attitude was in fact Draco himself.  
  
'I told you when we started this Blaise, that I had certain obligations towards the Parkinson family. My father has strong bonds with them,' he said, quite harshly, not one ounce of guilt within him.  
  
'But you told me that night Draco, that you were going to end it with her. You said yourself that your father would approve of me,' Blaise replied, snakelike tone suddenly gone from her voice.  
  
Draco mustered the most innocent, heartfelt look he could come up with and looked into her eyes. 'I'll break it off with her soon,' he said, not at all intending to do this, or intending to break it off with the other girls he was shagging at the moment. That neither Blaise nor Pansy knew about, of course. 'I promise,' he added for effect.  
  
Blaise's expression slightly softened as she took another step closer to him, now more graceful and seductive than before.  
  
'Alright,' she said. 'I just don't like to share my men.' She ran a hand across his neck and headed towards the door, exiting Draco's dorm room, leaving him finally alone to ponder his thoughts. It seemed recently that either Pansy or Blaise were breathing down his neck and he couldn't get one moment's peace. He looked around, gratefully seeing that neither Grabbe, Goyle, Justin nor Andrew had come back from dinner.  
  
Draco flung himself onto his four-poster and laid, belly up upon his bed. Closing his eyes and soothing his hair with his hand, he faded into a long, deep train of thought.  
  
It was the start of November, exactly a week after Draco had gotten the very disturbing letter from his father. At first, Draco had been enraged. How his father expected him to take these orders seriously was beyond him. But Draco was no fool. He knew better than to argue with Lucius, let alone Voldemort himself. Oh no, Draco imagined that going against the Dark Lord's orders would be much more painful than to tease a Weasley into loving him. And it wasn't as if he had to fall for her. He would get a chance to hurt her once she found the truth. Draco would be able to take advantage of her without her having one clue until it was too late. But he had to work quickly; working for Voldemort and his father was risky business, and he had rather not leave it until the last moment. He was sure he would receive an owl from his father any day, now asking him of his progress with the Weasley girl. So he had made a plan. Mind you, he already knew how to seduce a woman, there would be no challenge there. Draco smoothed out his hair with his hands and smirked, eyes still closed at this thought when a loud, shrill call interrupted his thoughts.  
  
'DRACO!' What he recognized as Pansy's shrill voice called out of the common room. Draco opened his eyes wide. The last thing he felt like dealing with now was whatever stupid thought floated through Pansy's head. He quickly got up, shoving his wand into his robe pockets and headed slowly down the stairs. He reached the common room to find a very annoyed Pansy looking for him. At the moment she seemed preoccupied talking to an intrigued looking Michael Devler. Draco took this chance to quietly slip out of the common room and into the dungeon's cold, hollow hallways. If only the woman would leave him alone for a couple of hours, he was sure he would have been able to stand her for longer than a night. But as beautiful as Pansy was, she was also quite clingy.  
  
Draco walked swiftly along the dark, damp hallways, his steps smooth and quick. He knew that Pansy would be looking for him shortly and he thought he would take refuge in the library. He was intrigued to see, once he entered, that just a few tables down sat the only people left in the library - which consisted of Ginny Weasley, along with the dream team, Harry, Ron and Hermione. Draco sat himself a few tables down with a clear view of them as he pretended to interest himself in a book entitled, '202 Substitutes For Love Potions,'  
  
Granger and the older Weasley seemed to be intrigued looking into each others' eyes and making, what Draco thought, disgusting googly eyes at each other, giggling constantly. Potter seemed to be waiting for something, obviously pretending to be doing his Muggle Studies essay, and Ginny sat there with her head buried in a Potions book. Once in a while her head would shoot up and she would stare almost disgustedly at her brother and Granger and even more so at Harry. Ginny finally said something, and the couple in front of her got up, giggling as they exited the library hand in hand. Draco almost vomited.  
  
*  
  
Ginny sat alone at the table with Harry, an awkward silence between them as she dug her nose in her books. Harry and she had dated last year for a while but had broken up pretty quickly as he and Cho hit it off again. Harry suddenly got up with a start.  
  
'See you later Gin,' he said after he saw Cho peek through the library door and give him a lively wink.  
  
'Where have you been Harry?' Ginny heard Cho ask as she and Harry both left the library, probably heading down to the Great Hall for dinner. Harry didn't know that in the process, he was leaving sweet, 'innocent' Ginny alone with a sly serpent who was watching her very attentively.  
  
'Bye,' Ginny muttered to the swinging door. Ginny at the moment wished nothing more than to go upstairs to her room and think, but she much needed to finish this potions essay.  
  
Ginny felt tears build up behind her eyes, but anger and frustration took over instead as she felt a pair of eyes staring at her. It was that git Draco Malfoy. He had been staring at her quite a bit now, always examining her and she wished he would stop. She was sure he was planning some horrible revenge to what she had done to him at the Quidditch pitch.  
  
Instead, Ginny pored over her books once again. 'Toad nails and it's hundred uses in Potions,' Ginny read weakly. 'Toad nails are commonly used in sleeping potions although they can be a powerful aphrodisiacs.' she couldn't concentrate and she found herself reading the same lines over and over again. Why wouldn't Draco stop staring at her? She turned to face him. He sat a few tables away from her, his usual arrogant smirk on his face. His blonde silver hair gelled back perfectly.  
  
* Draco studied his 'prey' with interest; as a tiger would observe the rabbit it was about to eat, hunger reflected in his eyes. Ginny's long red hair was tied up in a neat ponytail. She wore muggle track pants and a black tank top. She looked quite stunning really. He had studied her face when Potter had gotten up and raced like an obedient puppy towards that Cho girl. The little Weasley's eyes had narrowed and he had seen her eyes start to water. He thought that it was pathetic how the girl goggled over Potter while he seemed not to even give her the time of day. He now watched her shift uncomfortably, and to his surprise, she turned and faced him.  
  
'Do you have a staring problem?' Ginny finally blurted out, to her horror. It was not a good idea to insult a Malfoy.  
  
Draco's eyebrows lifted in surprise. 'Does this bother you Wealsey?' he drawled, getting up from his seat, not taking his eyes off her. He felt her cringe slightly and smirked inwardly. The girl had spunk.  
  
'As a matter of fact, yes, it does bother me,' Ginny sneered, trying her best to hide the slight fear building up in her chest.  
  
Malfoy smirked with interest but said nothing, simply kept staring at her as he approached. Ginny squirmed slightly in her seat, not sure to risk getting up or not. She was suddenly very aware that the only people left in the library were Malfoy and herself. Where had the librarian gone? She put her head down and faced her book once again, very aware that Malfoy had suddenly flung himself into the seat beside her.  
  
'What do you want, Malfoy?' she asked, poison in her words.  
  
Malfoy raised an eyebrow, since what had happened in the Quidditch pitch, he liked seeing her squirm with fear every time she saw him. It was so entertaining. He looked down at her book,  
  
'Potions? Don't bother with that, you're going to fail,' Malfoy said, matter-of-factly. Ginny frowned. Was this guy off his rocker? Did he realize he was talking to a Weasley?  
  
'And why, may I ask, am I going to fail Potions?' she asked, less frightened now.  
  
He looked up at her, into her brandy eyes. 'Because.' he drawled as though she was extremely stupid, 'you're a Gryffindor.and a Weasley at that,' he added, just to spite her more, holding his cold, elegant manner.  
  
Ginny stared daggers at him. It was the way he held himself that ticked her off the most.  
  
'I'm leaving,' she stated as she shut her books and stood up. She knew she was much weaker than Malfoy, and she didn't want to do anything stupid. At her sudden movement, Draco frowned, remembering his father's letter. Hey, just because he had an objective didn't mean he didn't get to play around a little. He decided he would have a little more fun. He stood up abruptly, blocking her way. This scared Ginny once again, and she flinched as he reached for her books.  
  
'Why are we leaving so soon, Weasley?' Draco waved the book in front of her face. 'Are you scared of me?' he smirked, moving slowly forward, extracting his wand from his robes in a threatening manner. Ginny gulped and began backing away until she hit a wall. He was glaring at her, examining her as well, making her feel quite uncomfortable.  
  
She examined him too at the question. Yes, he was very intimidating, with his expensive robes, military-like pose, blonde, slicked hair and his cold expression. But she had to give him one thing - he was possibly the best looking guy in all of Hogwarts as much as she hated to admit, and the way he was staring at her.he was doing something with his eyes. She could feel his warm breath on her neck, her eyes trailing over him suddenly roamed to his lips, which were too close for comfort really, and to her horror she found herself licking her own. She mentally screamed at herself. Little alarm bells rang in her head. He was too close for her comfort, she was sure he would hit her with a hex at any moment. She suddenly heard Draco chuckle coldly and she immediately realized she was staring.  
  
'Or maybe you just find me insanely attractive?' he smirked and smiled evilly, obviously intrigued. Ginny felt herself blush but immediately took back her composure.  
  
'Please!' she snorted, bravely grabbing the books from his hands. She walked away from him towards the door, fully aware that Draco was smirking harder than ever at her retreating back.  
  
'Jerk,' she mumbled under her breath as she exited the library.  
  
*  
  
Draco walked down the staircase towards the dungeons, a smirk plastered firmly upon his lips, still thinking of the Weasley. He was sure he would be able to seduce the little Weasley. He had seen how she stared at him, the want in her eyes, the way she licked her lips, she was practically drooling over him. It really wasn't that hard to seduce women, you just needed to know what they want.  
  
Draco stepped into the Slytherin common room where he was met by a firm, feminine body pressing herself against him.  
  
'Hello Draco,' the almost shrill, seductive voice of Pansy Parkinson slithered into his ear. She wrapped her arms around his chest from behind and kissed him on the neck. He violently whipped around and wrapped his arms around her waist, forcing her to let go of him.  
  
'Hello Pansy,' he said as he examined her stunning body. Pansy was definitely every guy's bedroom fantasy. With those curves and slim feminine body and more than generous bosom, she could make any man drop dead in his tracks. Her skin was slightly tanned from a long holiday somewhere very expensive, he was sure. Her lips were full and red, her eyes a stunning crystal blue, her fake blonde hair long and silky. Yet her features always held a poisonous, ladylike attitude, like a beautiful snake, ready to attack at any moment, if only she couldn't talk.  
  
Pansy glared into Draco's eyes, and still in his grasp, she waved a small black envelope in front of his face.  
  
'What's that?' he frowned.  
  
'I don't know, Lucifer brought it earlier,' she cooed, trying to seduce him. 'So I took it. Here,' she handed the envelope to him, and he knew it was from his father. He stuck it in his robe pocket.  
  
'I'll read it later,' he drawled hungrily, staring at her form, holding her closer to him, eyeing the dormitories. Pansy giggled as she followed him into his bedroom, Draco making sure she didn't see as he winked in Blaise's direction.  
  
*  
  
Ginny reached the common room mentally screaming at herself. What had that been? She had been so scared, yet for one moment.no, she stopped herself. It had been the fact that Ginny had been so intimidated that she had felt this way; after all, Draco was very intimidating. She sighed heavily, noticing all her roommates were still downstairs at dinner. She plopped down on her four-poster, and tucked herself under the covers. Ginny's stomach growled with hunger as she realized she hadn't had anything to eat, but her sleepiness wouldn't allow her to get up. Her eyes drooped slowly as visions of glowing necklaces and long, skeletal hands came back to her.  
  
The long skeletal hand, the harsh pain in her chest, a flash of white light and a dead body on the ground.  
  
Liz looked over at Ginny's four-poster as she saw her friend thrash about in her sleep. 'Probably just a nightmare', she thought.  
  
* * *  
  
Ginny awoke, clutching her burning chest. She had had the nightmare once again, and her heart beat wildly about inside her. She stared into the darkness before her for a few moments before sitting up and pushing back her messy, tangled hair. She had had this dream before, but never had she seen a dead body lying upon the ground. She rubbed her temples with the tips of her fingers as she tried to recognize the face of the body, but she could not. She got up and slipped on a pair of muggle blue jeans and a white t-shirt. Ginny studied the clock in front of her as she tied her red hair into a messy bun, leaving strands of hair cascading down the sides of her face. It was barely 6 in the morning and the sun outside was just beginning to peek out of the horizon. Quietly, she slipped out of her bedroom and out of the common room into the hallways, her steps smooth and careful as she reached the huge oak door. Ginny stepped outside and headed for the lake, the dream still vivid and disturbing in her mind. She just needed some peace to think about it, and the lake offered that to her.  
  
*  
  
Draco awoke from a nightmare he couldn't remember. His 'black blood' was acting up and he felt it as rage surged through his body. He dug his head into his pillow, holding it tightly with his hands as small beads of sweat trickled down his forehead. The rage was empowering and he found himself going into a dizzy spell. It was only minutes later that the anger in him began to fade and his blood began to cool. He swore under his breath as he sat up in his bed, wearing nothing but his green silk boxers. His well- toned body shook slightly as he calmed down. He ran a hand through his hair, which was now falling across his face, his gray eyes returning to their usual cold stare.  
  
Draco frowned as he felt someone roll around slightly in his bed, beside him. He looked over, finding Pansy cozy under his covers. He groaned inwardly as he proceeded to get up and into the shower. Once out, he slipped on his black casual robes and with an easy spell, his hair dried and was gelled back immediately. After applying a spray of his cologne he looked over at the wizard clock, which read 6:05 a.m., and then at Pansy, who was still sleeping, her long blonde hair spread out about his pillow.  
  
'What is she still doing here?' he questioned himself. He knew Pansy would want to snuggle or even worse talk if she were to wake up, so he decided it better to go practice a while at the Quidditch pitch. Draco grabbed his broom and proceeded quietly downstairs. He made sure to slip over himself the silver, liquid like material of the invisibility cloak his mother had once given him for his birthday before proceeding down the stairs and outside into the field. The sun's rays were just beginning to kiss the field, flooding it a dark bronze under a clear sky. He stopped abruptly when he spotted a red figure sitting under a tree near the lake, and smirked. Virginia. He might as well have a little fun. He strode as silently as possible towards her, making sure nothing was showing from under his invisibility cloak.  
  
*  
  
Ginny watched as the small ripples in the water played upon the water's surface from the slight breeze. The sun glowed a beautiful gold upon the land, the newborn light after a long night of darkness. She carefully removed her sandals and slipped her feet into the cold water, the breeze around her being strangely but delightfully warm for this time of year. She closed her eyes as the feeling of the water between her toes spread up her body and sent cooling shivers up her spine. The little bits of hair that escaped her bun danced about her face gracefully as someone reached over and tucked a loose strand behind her ear.  
  
She leaned into the soft touch for a second before she turned to see who it was. But as she turned there was no one there. Just the slight breeze carrying the fallen autumn leaves. She cringed suddenly as she felt a presence around her. But she must have been imagining things. She studied the land around her carefully and there was no one there. At this, she felt a bit more relieved, and turned back to looked at the water, a tranquil feeling washing over her once again.  
  
She suddenly felt herself warming all over. As if in a tight embrace, her body tingled as she leaned into the hold. Losing herself in the moment, she closed her eyes, only to abruptly pull away when she felt lips graze her ears and say, 'Hello Virginia,' in a low, husky seductive voice she faintly recognized. She felt tingles run up and down her spine as her name was said like---like that. No one had ever murmured her name in that type of tone. She closed her eyes, letting the voice fade slowly within her head, and a goofy grin began to spread upon her lips as she felt a hand graze her side. Suddenly, disturbed and realizing someone was obviously there she grabbed towards the presence, this time managing to take the invisibility cloak off of Draco.  
  
He stood there, his lips still considerably close to her ear, his hard cold eyes staring into hers, and a smirk firmly placed upon his lips. She stared at him, not quite taking in the situation. Her dazed eyes roamed over his face then into his eyes. Her mouth opened slightly, her body urging her to say something, anything. Draco simply stared in amusement and took a seat upon the grass beside her.  
  
'Nice to see you too,' he said slyly, remembering the expression on her face when he had grazed his lips over her ear.  
  
'Nice?!' Ginny suddenly seemed to snap out of her trance, bringing her feet up from the water and drying them quickly before putting them in her sandals.  
  
'Hardly,' she stared at him, hatred in every ounce of her body. But there was a mixed emotion in between her hatred, which she refused to acknowledge as that git turned his attention from her bewildered face out towards the lake. His hair was slicked back as usual, looking a touch more blonde than usual as the sun hit it, his masculine figure draped on the grass in a somewhat lazy pose. His eyes almost seemed warm as the sunlight shone on them.  
  
'Please Weasley, by the expression on your face, I'd say more than nice,' Draco looked smug as he said this, and the warmness that had momentarily manifested itself upon his eyes was gone.  
  
Ginny blushed but quickly rounded on Malfoy. 'What the hell were you doing anyways?' she asked, trying to steer this 'conversation', if you could call it, that away from her reaction.  
  
He stared at her now, truly amused. 'Do I need an excuse to piss off a Weasley? I think not,' Malfoy paused and watched her turn faintly red with anger. 'Besides,' he said as he straightened his back and turned his attention back out towards the lake. 'You know you love it.'  
  
Now what was that supposed to mean? Ginny stared at Draco, who seemed quite pleased with himself. 'Enjoy what?' she mumbled quietly, almost as if she was questioning herself. She didn't wait for an answer as she lifted herself from the ground, adjusting the waistline of her pants.  
  
She began to walk away quickly, almost as if running away from something, urging herself to not explore the thoughts that were raging through her head at the moment, to not really concentrate on anything. Her pace quickened suddenly and she found herself trip over a root sticking out from the ground. Her foot got caught and she plunged ungracefully into the lake. She flapped her arms about wildly, noticing that Draco had gotten up and placed himself firmly upon the ground in front of her, his mouth threatening to break into what seemed, if it was possible, a laugh. He folded his hands on his chest he stared at her.  
  
'THAT eager to get away from me, huh?' Malfoy's lips were pressed firmly together, causing them to look like a line, containing the laughter building up within him. Why did this Weasley always bring up some type of laughter within him? 'You must want me more than I thought.' Arrogance leaked from his words as he smirked, looking over at the poor girl who seemed to be having quite a bit of trouble swimming back to shore.  
  
It seemed that something had wrapped itself around Ginny's ankle and was dragging her down. Her lungs were filling with water as she tried to fight back the insults. But she couldn't muster the energy to answer as the water flooded her lungs, and instead, she found herself calling out at him for help. The smirk on his face seemed to change immediately to one of concern as he quickly took off his jacket and shoes and dove into the water. That was the last thing Ginny saw before her lungs gave up and her vision was flung into darkness. Her body dragged deeper into the cold depths of the lake.  
  
* * *  
  
She awoke, immediately seeing lips being lowered down to hers. As if this was a habit she mechanically brought her hand up and hit the man with a heavy blow to the cheek. The man directly retreated when he saw her move, and fell back as Ginny sat up and began spitting up the water in her lungs. Her vision was still fairly blurred but it was not long before she saw her savior sitting beside her, holding his slightly red cheek.  
  
Draco Malfoy.  
  
Her eyes were wide as she studied him. He had no shirt on reveling a chiseled six-pack, his arm muscles strong, yet not too bulky. His pants clung to him, wet. His hair was in a messy heap atop his head, something Ginny had never seen before. Wet, it sprung out in all directions across his face. His eyes were not looking at her mockingly, as she expected, but with obvious concern for her. For a moment, Ginny smiled inside at this. It seemed like he really cared for her, how his eyes traveled over her worriedly, and into her eyes. But she quickly brushed this thought aside as she spit up the last of the water and sat there, breathing deeply. She suddenly remembered his nearing lips and blushed at her actions; he had obviously thought she hadn't been breathing.  
  
'Well, last time I ever save your life again,' he smiled weakly as he said this, holding his sore cheek.  
  
'I guess I should thank you,' she trailed off, exasperation in her voice.  
  
Once seeing Ginny was fine, Draco automatically flung his hand through his hair, taming it. It smoothed back, but small pieces fell from the collection of hair and sprawled over his forehead. 'It is usually customary to say thank you after someone has saved your life, yes,' he said arrogantly, now pulling his white muscle undershirt back over his chest.  
  
Ginny blushed at this and looked away. But as her lips opened to thank him they closed again. She glared at him as he stared at her expectantly. 'I can't,' she said foolishly, not really knowing why.  
  
'Come on,' a certain teasing manner had entered Draco's voice now as he shoved himself closer to her. 'Say it.'  
  
Ginny glared at him for a moment. She felt woozy, and her stomach seemed to be doing flip-flops, but she was sure it was just a reaction of almost dying, not a new experience to her. Every fiber in her body was telling her not to say those words, she wanted to make him fight for them, and she wanted him to plead for her thank you.  
  
She turned to him now, taming her own hair with her fingers. She opened her mouth slightly but then closed it - she loved seeing the disappointment one Draco's face.  
  
'Ohh.come on!' A hint of pleading in Draco's voice emerged and Ginny smiled. He was surprised how warm her smile made him feel, as her lips parted in a grin to reveal her teeth. Her eyes glowed with a liveliness he had never seen before. Soaking wet, her hair was plastered to her head, straight and darker looking than usual. Her white t-shirt and jeans clung to her form, and her sandals, it seemed, had been lost in the lake and had not been recovered. In the now brilliantly shinning sunlight, Virginia looked like some fallen angel.  
  
'Thank you,' she said slowly, not really wanting to say the words. Draco smiled his usual arrogant smile. He was a Malfoy after all, and he always got what he wanted. Ginny would have never thought in a million years she would be saying thank you to a Malfoy.  
  
Draco, pleased with his thank you, began to look out at the lake, as a somewhat colder breeze began to wrap itself around the two people sitting in awkward silence. Draco could hear Ginny murmur softly as she tried to fight the cold encompassing her wet self. As if he had been doing this all his life, Draco took his cloak and wrapped it around her.  
  
'Cold?' he asked. She inclined her head, surprised and yet thankful for the warm cloak wrapped about her body. It smelled soothing, slightly of mint and aftershave. She took comfort within it.  
  
Ginny stared at him for a moment. He seemed so un-Malfoyish right now. His eyes were softer yet still sharp. His hair trailing the sides of his face made him look less commanding, and less intimidating. It was as if she was seeing him for the first time.  
  
Draco noticed Ginny staring at him, and he too stared at her, locking her gaze with his, and looked into her brandy eyes. Her long lashes seemed to flutter as she blinked. Her eyes, it felt, were trying to go somewhere deeper within him, somewhere where he dared not let anyone in. It was as if her eyes were trying to pry apart the locks and traps set up in his arrogant character to the person within. With each second, Ginny was getting physically closer to him, and out of fear of actually letting her in, he closed the small space left between them, placing his lips upon hers.  
  
A whirl of emotions tugged at her heart when she felt his lips upon hers, but quickly Ginny pulled away from his grasp. Breathing deeply she took another swing at him with her hand, not thinking at all. He was too fast though and grabbed her wrist. Giving him a glare of pure hatred and loathing, she forcefully pulled back her hand. Clawing his cloak off her back, she threw it at him.  
  
'Do you really think I'm that easy, Malfoy?' she hissed, venom dripping from her words as she stalked away, her pace quick and rash, her eyes focusing on the nearing oak doors, trying with all her might to avoid the discomfort tugging at her heart.  
  
Draco, too, tried to make sense at the strange tugging his heart made, a different tugging than Virginia's as he walked towards the Quidditch pitch in quite a state of shock. No one had ever tried that hard to pry him apart, and could it be that it scared him?  
  
'No.being frightened is a weakness,' he thought. 'I am Malfoy.and Malfoys' have no weaknesses.'  
  
`Fin of chapter 2 


	3. Paranoia

A/N: I have NO excuse for how late this chapter is! *bows head in shame*. Alright, I do. Not only was I extremely busy but I had writer's block. But I have been working weeks, months even on this chapter, and it's long, angsty AND has plot, how do you like that? Plus, I know pretty well where the story is going now so the next few chapters should come **a lot** quicker! I really do hope you guys enjoy this chapter which took me ages to write! Please, R/R. Thank you! 

I'd like to say such a special thanks to all the people that reviewed my last chapter! It was extremely overwhelming and I swear I couldn't stop smiling the entire day after I got one. If it wasn't for you guys this chapter might have never come out. The reviews really do mean a lot to me. Thank you guys so much! And thank you to my beta reader Rachel, who always makes time in her busy schedule to beta my fics! 

Disclaimer: I wish I owned him, I really, really do, but unfortunately the character Draco Malfoy belongs to and is the creation of J.K Rowling's. As well as the rest of the wonderful characters you recognize. I just mess around with their lives for our enjoyment. Enjoy!  

Rating Warnings; PG-13 for language and some sexual reference (all kept in PG-13 limits of course)

Now on with the story!

Cheers!

Chapter Three- Paranoia 

Draco lay, draped across the bench on the Slytherin Quidditch stand. He gazed upon the golden snitch without much interest as it flitted its tiny, delicate gold wings before him. It was as if it was tempting Draco to chase after it, like a dog tempting one to throw a stick. But Draco had had enough physical activity for one day as he had been chasing the bloody thing since this morning and his encounter with Virginia. This is what he figured; it was obvious this girl was getting to him but he was a Malfoy, damn it! No one **got** to him. And if there were any perks to being a Malfoy, it was the fast healing and learning from your mistakes. The Malfoy family was extremely clever in that way, especially Draco. He wouldn't let this pass him by - instead, those wicked wheels turned viciously in his head, trying to figure out every single detail he could use to his advantage that he had found out because of that little happening. Draco wasn't going to let this throw him off. He had a job to do, and absolutely nothing would stand in his way. If Weasley wanted a game of cat and mouse, that was exactly what he would give her. He would sink his fangs into her.

It was now dusk. The sun was beginning to fade behind the horizon, leaving tints of gold and fading purples. Draco's muscles were sore and seemed to be failing him at the moment, and being Saturday he had found it surprising that he had been able to have the Quidditch pitch for the entire day. In fact he was sure that every annoying Gryffindor and Hufflepuff would have been coming outside to enjoy what had been a clear sky on a very fine morning. Thank the gods, Draco thought. It had probably been a Hogsmeade day, but even if there was, he had not noticed anyone come near him. Not that it was wise to come near a Malfoy in such a state. Slowly, he began to rise from the bench, using his broom to steady himself, making sure to grab the very hard to see silver liquid material of his invisibility cloak which he had not bothered to take inside. He dragged his feet about the ground as he walked towards the huge front oak doors, but as the thoughts raged in his head his strides became longer and more powerful, and the expression on his face twisted to show a true wickedness, power. The night made scary shadows that played about his face and his hair had come loose of the sticky gel from the wind, and it settled about his face, making him look slightly scary, mad even and very confident. Exhaling deeply he decided to skip dinner, not a wise choice since he had not been to lunch either. But it had been a surprisingly dismal, but clam day and he preferred to keep it that way. And that meant staying away from annoying female ramblings, in other words, Pansy. He wasn't sure he'd be able to control his anger tonight.  

*

Ginny dangled her fork in the chocolate pie her brother had placed before her. She dragged the fork over the frosting and watched as the little metal tines made imprints on it. She looked about her surroundings and watched as the students happily ate their dinner and talked about that day's Hogsmeade trip. Ginny had stayed in the castle that day; as much as her friends had pushed her to come along on their trip, she had come up with a lame homework excuse and stayed within the bliss of the quiet school with the exception of the few who were too young to go. She had been locked up in her room or in the library the entire day, frightened that she might bump into Draco. The shock of the kiss had finally subsided and now the question of why, and what to do, tormented her thoughts. She had finally come to the conclusion that he must want something from her - either that or he was playing with her emotions, for a bet or his own enjoyment. It seemed Malfoy-ish enough of a reason to kiss her. Her fingers grazed her lips as she thought of the kiss she had shared with the serpent. 

Ginny's glare shot toward the Slytherin table which she had been trying to avoid with a passion the entire night, only to find no Draco sitting between his two, dumb as a stump human shields. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion and she wondered if he had come back to the castle at all--not that she cared. Suddenly a glare caught her eye from the Slytherin table she had been scanning. It was a girl; her eyes were narrowed, almost serpent-like. A look of great, evil interest spread about her face as she noticed Ginny searching. Ginny had seen the girl before; often envied her beauty. Her features were of an exotic kind, her hair black as night, hanging down her back. Her eyes were actually a violet colour that often seemed to sparkle with mischief, and the greatest feeling of elegance yet danger and pure, simple evil radiated from her. Ginny had heard people talk about her. Blaise Zabini, she believed. It was alleged that at 17, Blaise had already received the Dark Mark, and her family was greatly involved with Lord Voldemort. She sat delicately, looking so fragile but so poisonous beside Pansy Parkinson. However, she seemed isolated, as if she was in a completely different state of mind than anyone in the room. Ginny felt herself shiver, there was something simply not right about Blaise.

Blaise arched an eyebrow as she noticed the youngest Weasley eagerly search about the place where Draco usually sat. Blaise was no idiot. Ginny turned away quickly, only catching Blaise's intimidating glare for merely five seconds; too little time to see the corner of Blaise's pale lips curl up in a delightfully knowing smirk. 'It is not wise for weasels to play with snakes,' she muttered under her breath, and turned back to the food set about her plate, the fire in her eyes burning more brightly than before. This would be interesting.  

Ginny saw Hermione looking at her in a "what's wrong?" sort of way. Hermione had noticed Ginny's odd stares towards the Slytherin table, and the fact she hadn't touched a bite of her food. However, before Hermione could say anything, Ginny pushed away the chocolate pie before her and lifted herself from her seat.

'I'm really tired, I'm heading up to the Gryffindor tower.' Ginny smiled faintly, hoping it looked genuine. For the first time throughout the whole meal, Harry and Ron broke off their Quidditch conversation and stared at Ginny, trying to comprehend what she had just said. 

'Right Gin, see you later,' Ron finally managed to say, and Harry nodded in agreement. Hermione stared at Ginny in a disapproving way and began to get up herself. 

'I'll go with you Ginny, I'm not much of a Quidditch kind of gal,' Hermione said. Instantly, Ginny saw that all Hermione wanted to do was get the scoop; she wanted to know what Ginny apparently seemed to know. 

'No Hermione, it's alright. Don't you have detention duty anyways?' Ginny replied quickly, and to her relief, Hermione's eyes widened. 

'Oh for Merlin's sake!' Hermione slapped Ron lightly on the shoulder, and he looked up at her, confused. 

'Hey, what was that for?' he questioned.

'Ron! I told you to remind me I have detention duty tonight! You know I've been terribly busy!' She began to collect her books frantically from the table, shoving them into her knapsack. 

Ron shot another lovingly glance at Hermione as he watched her rush. He took her hand and looked into her eyes. 'Wouldn't you much rather stay here with me than look after those terribly naughty people?' he puckered his lip playfully and she shot him an annoyed but playful glance. 

Ginny rolled her eyes, and grabbing her own bag, shot out of the great hall, eager and happy to get away from her lovey dovey brother and his girlfriend. Ginny walked quickly along the corridors. The chill winter air ran through them and she shivered slightly. She began to grow paranoid of the shadows that loomed in the corners, since these halls were only illuminated by the torchlight. They were also empty, for everyone seemed to be at dinner. Her breath began to quiver as her eyes played tricks on her and she found her feet shuffling more quickly; her heart pounding with a desire to reach the warmth and coziness of the Gryffindor common room. 

Her eyes darted about from corner to corner, checking for imaginary creatures her father had always told her were not there. He had told her she was safe, but she hadn't been safe, had she? She never had. She had been proved that in her first year, where the shadows in the corners loomed about her and haunted her. They still seemed to haunt her as the little light there was flickered. She squeaked when she saw a tall figure along the corridor she had turned into. Her mind raced with ridiculous ideas, and she forced herself to calm down as she clung on to her cloak, almost as if it would shield her from whatever evil was trying to get at her. She took two big breaths and continued her walk down the hallway. It was just another student, or perhaps Filch, she assured herself. 

Ginny gathered up all her Gryffindor courage and walked swiftly down the corridor, the figure walking towards her as well. As they came closer together, Ginny lowered her head so her hair fell over her face, simply concentrating on passing the person. She felt the person's presence as she passed, releasing a breath of relief and scolding herself mentally for being so silly, when a hand enclosed itself about her upper arm. She squealed and immediately lunged for the opposite direction, but the hand would not let go. Her vision fell on the person's face, dark, it couldn't be, Tom? No, no it couldn't be, and it wasn't. Draco Malfoy stared back at her. The shadow played about his eyes, making them dark and unreadable; all she could see was the faint silver spark. Her heart beat quickly and her eyes widened as she watched him smirk wickedly and take hold of her other arm. 

'Weasley, you didn't think you were going to get away that easily, did you?' his voice was confident, deep and sleek. Ginny shivered and managed to pull one of her hands from his grasp. 

'Malfoy,' her voice was tiny and it wavered. She hated herself for being so intimidated by him. 'What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?' Ginny's eyes narrowed in surprise and fear. 

'You want to know what I'm doing,' Draco moved his face closer to her, forcing her to back up against a wall. 'The question, Virginia,' he mocked, savoring the word and letting it flow out of his lips, making her squirm against him, and smirking, 'What do you think _you're_ doing?' 

Ginny arched an eyebrow questioningly, and at seeing this Draco chuckled coldly. Now that she had backed into the light of the torch, Ginny studied Draco's face, his eyes frightening, predatory. 

'What do you mean, what am I doing?' she spat back at him, still struggling against his grasp, trying her best not to sound frightened. His grip on her arms was becoming tighter and she winked slightly in pain. 'I didn't do anything, you're the one who kissed me,' and sudden rage entered her. For some reason she began to grow furious. Wriggling herself finally loose she stared at him, her glare, if it would have been anyone but a Malfoy would have made the person run. 

'Ah Virginia, Virginia, Virginia,' he drawled, letting her pause and pant in anger as he leaned one side against the stone wall and slicked back his hair, completely calm. 'If you insist into getting into the meek subject of the pitiful kiss then I should have to mention the fact that you wanted it…you wanted it bad,' his lips curled in pleasure as he saw her eyes grow wide and the red brighten upon her face. 

'I certainly did not-'

'Please Virginia, let us not fight like children. _You_ were the one who took the cloak…_You_ were the one that kept on coming closer. Please, do you think me an idiot, Virginia? Don't you think I saw the want in your eyes? I simply seized the opportunity, after all, I get whatever I want, if you should be so lucky to be such." He smirked and eyed her, a devilish smile playing on his lips, "I'm just the kind of bad boy you're dying to break, aren't I? You just want to find the good in me.' He pushed himself off the wall with his shoulder and walked over to Ginny, his eyes sparkling with malice. 

"Well let me tell you now Weasley, I am a Slytherin, a Malfoy, and according to you Gryffindors, I have no good in me. I'm a snake, Virginia, and you would be wise to stay away.' 

Ginny was frozen; she stood there before him in utter shock. She definitely hadn't been expecting this. 'Of course,' Draco reached over and twirled a bit of her blood red hair on his finger; 'if the little Weasel thinks she's ready to come out and play with the snake, that would be entirely up to her.' Ginny suddenly found her shoes very interesting as she gazed at them, unable to stare at his grey eyes any longer. She was rooted to the spot it seemed, and she found herself painfully reminded of Tom as Draco had twirled her hair. Shivers she hadn't felt for years ran up and down her spine. 

"I-um…" Ginny breathed deeply, and Draco dropped the curl of hair he was twirling and placing his hand onto her shoulder, lowering his face to hers, his hot breath on her cheeks, eyes glinting as such as a manipulator.

"You what?" he asked daringly. A wide grin had sprawled onto his face; his hand had began to trace her collarbone, when small clicks on stone could be heard from around the corner, 

'DRACY-POO!' boomed a loud, shrill feminine voice, destroying the intimidating atmosphere he had produced upon Ginny. 

Ginny saw Draco cringe and a wicked small, but cautious smile played upon her lips, her eyes shining as his hand dropped from her collarbone and his eyes darted away from her to the approaching form. 

'Dracy-poo?' Ginny asked, smiling so widely that Draco was ready to kill that damned bitch Pansy. He growled, rolled his eyes and let go completely of Ginny's arm as he felt Pansy's chest press up against his back.

'Dracy! Where have you been!? I have been looking for you everywhere!' Her voice became silkier as she passed a hand down his chest and snuggled closer to him, pressing herself onto him seductively.

 'I thought you might want to-' Pansy suddenly stopped short, her blue eyes piercing Ginny, as if she just now noticed her standing there. She flipped her fake blonde hair off her shoulder and looked back at Draco, blinking and pouting as she asked, 'torturing Weasley's again, love?' Pansy leaned farther into Draco, and Ginny saw him move away slightly. 

Ginny rolled her eyes. "If you'll excuse me, I'd better be going before I lose any more IQ points from being in your presence." With that, Ginny turned on her heel, deliberately avoiding Draco's stare and stalked down the hall quickly before Pansy understood what she had said and tried to hex her. Before she could get away though, she felt a strong tug on her arm that pulled her back. Ginny turned around and was forced to stare into Draco's cold grey eyes. He lowered his lips to her ears and whispered in a voice that sent shivers up her spine, 

'This isn't over Weasley, I'll get you back for this.' His hot breath was on her neck, and then suddenly he flung her away. Turning sharply, Ginny raced down the hall towards the Gryffindor common room, before Draco decided to do anything else. 

Pansy watched as Draco whispered into Ginny's ear. She watched as the redhead stalked down the hallway, and frowned.

'Why is he talking to a Weasley?' Pansy questioned under her breath, and once Draco got close enough she leaned on him again. 

"Hey!" she said after several seconds, "Draco!" She squealed in a high pitched voice, "aren't you going to do anything!? She called me stupid!"

Draco pushed Pansy violently off of him, 'Shut your pug face!' he yelled at her, 'there's nothing I can do if someone tells the truth." He turned down the staircase towards the dungeons, Pansy on his heel, yammering the whole time until they got to his dorm room. 

'Alright, I forgive you, Draco,' she pressed her body fully onto him as he began to open the door to his dorm. Draco raised a brow; he hadn't said a thing; the girl was brainless. 

'Pansy, I'm not in the mood,' he pushed her aside and shut the door quickly to his room. After countless squeals without answer he heard Pansy huff and trail down the stairs. Once sure she was gone Draco immediately sighed, letting his back relax as he took off his cloak and laid it on the hook of his door. 

"Hallo Draco," a sexy, silky voice snaked about the room, and Draco turned around to see Blaise, lying on his bed upon the black and green sheets. Her long legs were tangled in them, her white school blouse half opened, revealing part of her black bra. Her skirt was tucked up too high, and her long black silky hair was down and sprawled about his pillow. 

'Blaise,' Draco said, his tone slightly annoyed, but it wavered as she untangled her legs from the sheets and he got a glance at her black silk knickers. 'What are you doing here?' he said, still staring at her. Blaise got off the bed, swinging her long legs over the side seductively. Walking over to Draco, she placed her hands on his shoulders and began massaging him, leaning over him, and pressing her pale lips to his ear she asked, 

'Why so stressed, love? I thought you could use some company,' Draco could smell Blaise's intoxicating perfume and closed his eyes. Maybe company that wasn't Pansy could be…beneficial. 

'Why so avoidant lately? You weren't at dinner, or anywhere else for that matter…who are you hiding from?' At the sudden questioning, Draco pulled forwards, making her let go. He walked over to the desk, understanding that she wanted information. He studied the stunning woman before him, her features as gorgeous as ever yet that snaky smile was placed on her lips and her eyes shone with a malice he only knew meant bad news for whomever she was plotting against. 

'Why don't you tell me what you want so I can have some peace Zabini?' he snapped, ignoring her questions and pretending to busy himself with some homework, trying to control himself and keep his cool, regardless or her swaying form that kept on coming closer.  

'So impersonal…' Blaise drifted off as she entwined her fingers in his blonde, platinum hair. That did it, he grabbed her hand violently and she suddenly gasped in slight pain. 'Alright, alright…' she sighed, snapping back her hand and brushing his side with her hip before she walked over to the door. She knew it wasn't beneficial for her own health to go on. 'I'll leave you to whatever you need to do…' she fluttered her long dark eyelashes at him seductively before adding, 'it you need anything, just call…'Blaise gave him a snaky smile he didn't like and walked out, shutting the door behind her. 

Draco frowned, letting out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. What was the girl up to? He closed the books on the table, thrashing them into his drawer. He plummeted onto his bed, and passing a hand through his hair, he closed his eyes tightly and sighed.

'What a day,' he mumbled, thinking about Ginny. Her big dark intimidated chocolate eyes came to mind and he smirked. How he loved to be in power, how helpless she had seemed, and the temptation…feeling something jab his back, his thoughts were interrupted and he sat up. There, where Blaise had been sitting was an opened black envelope. He frowned as he recognized his father's letter, the one he had not yet opened. He held it in his hands and extracted the dark, fine paper from the envelope. 

_Draco,_

_The Dark Lord is becoming impatient. I assume you are making progress with the Weasley girl? _

_Do not disappoint me boy, do not disappoint the Dark Lord, I expect a full report by next week. If not I am afraid I will have to get involved. _

_Your mother greets you._

_Regards, _

_Lucius Malfoy_

Draco frowned at the letter. The last thing he wanted was his father getting involved in anything. He wondered also if his mother knew about any of this. It was very possible she didn't, it would break her heart to know he was socializing with muggle lovers. Lucius made an effort to keep Narcissa out of Death Eater situations, for one reason or another. She was really the one who bought things, not one to get her hands dirty. 

'What are you up to, Zabini?" he thought out loud as he set the letter back in a drawer of his night table. He stretched and yawning, peeled off his shirt, revealing his chiseled lean abs. He flung it onto his dresser and headed toward the loo, a green towel embroidered with the initials DM in his hands. He didn't need any more problems to deal with right now, what he did need was a very cold shower. 

* 

Ginny stumbled through the portrait hole, her breath heavy and uneven. That last threat from Malfoy had affected her in more ways than she had liked it to. She couldn't stop herself from the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Grateful that no one was in the common room with the exception of a pair of first years talking about some winter ball, she stumbled to her room. For no apparent reason, only on impulse, she kneeled in front of the trunk at the foot of her bed. With a shaking hand she extracted the familiar black box. Wasting no time, she gripped the tear shaped jewel hard between her fingers, letting the cooling sensation flow through her, and she stopped shaking. After a moment her mind became clear, her breathing regulated and she got off the floor, readjusting her clothing and setting the necklace about her neck. She sat on the bed and closed her eyes, letting the world fall into a comforting black. 

*      *      *

Ginny stumbled into the Great Hall the next morning and tripped over her oversized down robe. Heads all across the Great Hall turned and faced her. She blushed and sighing, got up quickly, heading towards the Gryffindor table, ignoring the snickers and howls. She made sure not to look over at the Slytherin table, where she could practically hear Malfoy smirking. She groaned as she flopped herself down on the bench at the Gryffindor table beside Hermione, Ron across from them. 

'Hey Gin,' her brother barely greeted her through mouthfuls of what seemed to be pancakes. 

'Something wrong Ginny?' Hermione asked while helping her adjusts her robes.

Ginny hadn't had much time to get ready this morning and was now fixing the colour of her uniform shirt. She hated uniforms, but on weekdays she had no choice, and considering that it was Monday morning Ginny had put on her short grey skirt, white blouse and robes, much to her disdain. It wasn't just that the uniform was grey and tasteless, but the fact that her family hadn't had the money to buy her a new one in two years, leaving her with a shirt that was way too tight (thank god for the huge handy down cloak that once belonged to Percy), and a skirt that was way too short. Her hands flung down to the seams of her skirt, unconsciously pulling it down as much as she could over her legs, then tightened the high ponytail as she looked at Hermione. 

'Morning Ron,' she frowned and faced Hermione, glad to see for one that they weren't making googly eyes at each other. 

'Had a bit of trouble falling asleep, that's all,' she smiled a little and once she was satisfied with her ponytail, began to fill her plate with food. 

It was true, she hadn't been able to sleep at all the night before, and it showed, with the dark circles under her eyes. All night she had tossed and turned, waking up every hour from the horrible repeating nightmares of glowing necklaces and bloody bodies. She had even woken up her roommates in the middle of the night with a piercing scream of pain from her necklace which had been glowing and burning her chest. She had quickly tucked it away as so no one could see. Not to mention she had been thinking of that _stupid _kiss and Malfoy's stupid threats. She or rather Draco somehow had managed to convince her it was her fault. Something she had done. _But it wasn't_, she had thought to herself. Malfoy had been the one that kissed her. Not only that, but she was beginning to wonder if Draco would really get her back. She was starting to become slightly paranoid.

'You look awful,' Ron mumbled while taking another huge bite of his pancakes, his hair in a big red mess. His tie was undone and the first button of his dress shirt opened. 

'Hey Romeo, you don't look so hot yourself,' Ginny frowned as she saw her brother hold hands with Hermione across the table. Hermione blushed but didn't let go of his hand. 

'I'm sure he didn't mean it that way,' Hermione playfully slapped Ron's hand and he too blushed. Ginny rolled her eyes; she knew it couldn't have lasted very long.  

Turning away so that she didn't have to look at this sickening display, Ginny turned her head. She found herself looking over at the Slytherin table, and she was sure that Malfoy's head had turned quickly to not let her see he had been looking at her - perhaps he had been plotting? She saw along with every other Slytherin boy, Pansy Parkinson sitting on his lap, trying to push her chest into his face. 

Ginny narrowed her eyes at the two, unable to look away, not really knowing why her stomach was lurching and turning in quite an uncomfortable way. 

*     *     *

Pansy Parkinson was slumped over Draco, trying to push her humongous breasts into his face. He looked down, it was kind of hard not to. At this point Draco was tempted to throw Pansy violently off his lap and onto the floor. She was twirling his perfectly smooth hair around and around with her fingers and kissing his neck. It was the **_bloody_** morning! And he was hungry. He was in no mood for this. All night he had been twitching and turning in his bed, sweat dripping off his body as his blood boiled. Never had it come this badly, and so painful the will to kill became that if one were to step into the room of Draco Malfoy that morning, one would have seen the mass of feathers that had been sprawled out on the floor, coming from the ripped pillows. His sheets were torn and there were even blood stains on the hangings. His blood hadn't began to cool until five thirteen to be exact that morning, yet he still managed to look pulled together this morning as usual, with a quick wit and short temper. 

Luckily for Pansy, Draco noticed Ginny staring at Pansy and himself, with the most disgusted look on her face, so he simply couldn't give this chance up. 

Putting on a show for Ginny, he grabbed the back of Pansy's neck and kissed her roughly. He saw Ginny narrow her eyes at him and he winked at her. She turned her head in disgust and he smirked. 

'Oh Draco baby,' Pansy said, holding onto the collar of his shirt and went in to give him another kiss. This time he pushed her away and she hit the space of bench next to him with a hard thump. 

'Ow,' she moaned, stroking her perfectly fake blonde hair and pouting her lips. 'What was that for?' Draco didn't even give her a second look. He was watching Wealsey. Pansy, disappointed, turned to see who sat beside her, looking for someone else to flirt with. She curled her lip in disgust as Goylle gave her a perverted smile.

'Ew,' she said and walked over to Maxwell, a tall, well built seventh year Slytherin. Her hips swayed from side to side as she bent over to pick up what she had 'dropped', flashing him completely. He grabbed her at the waist and she giggled. She didn't need Malfoy. 

Taking a bite out of his apple Malfoy raked his eyes over the little Weasley, his eyes narrowed into slits. She was wearing her school uniform, which he actually now decided he liked more than the muggle clothes she wore. The skirt was way to small for her, leaving her long legs quite exposed and he was sure under that cloak her shirt was way too tight. Probably too poor to buy a new uniform, _Thank gods for poor Weasleys_, he thought, smirking. Draco threw the apple core onto his plate and got up. Looking around he saw both Crabbe and Goyle so engrossed in their food they hadn't noticed he had stood. Usually they would have stood with him, placing themselves like two idiotic human shields on either side of him. He was glad, as he didn't feel like walking around with those two idiotic excuses for Slytherins. He began to walk out of the Great Hall, swiftly and quickly to make sure none of the other Slytherins would notice. He had plans to make...

Blaise watched as Draco slipped out of the Great Hall, slithering past the doors while avoiding the rest of their fellow Slytherins. She licked her lips and smirked, 

'What _do_ you have to hide, Mr. Malfoy?' 

*   *   *

Ginny watched as Draco slipped out of the Great Hall so quickly she didn't think anyone but herself had seen him. She looked down at her egg and ham filled plate and dangled her fork in it, trying not to think of where he had gone…or what he was planning.  

'Where's Harry?' She asked, suddenly aware that he hadn't been sitting at the table the whole morning, and there were only a few minutes left until first class. 

'Well, if it's going to be like that!!!' A loud, shrill voice sliced through the quiet murmur that had been going on in the Hall. It was Cho Chang, at the Ravenclaw table. She was standing and her face was quite red; it looked like she was about to cry. Beside her sat Harry, looking quite disgruntled. 

'Then frankly, Harry Potter, I don't want to see you anymore!!!' Everyone was quiet as Cho grabbed her purple bag off the table and stomped out of the Hall, her heels clicking on the marble floor. Four other girls following her, giving Harry nasty looks as they passed. The silence was soon broken by murmurs of questions and gossip. Ron and Hermione looked at each other awkwardly and began to walk towards Harry. Even the teachers at the head table were murmuring to each other. Ginny couldn't help it - she smiled to herself. She wasn't planning on going over to Harry and comforting him. Instead she stood and grabbed her bag, deciding to make an early start to her first class, Double Potions. She slung her bag over one shoulder and dashed out of the Great Hall. 

*    *    *

It was exactly halfway through Potions, as Ginny was having trouble skinning the flabby, dull grey skin of her woobaloo that the doors to the Potions room swung open, the hinges squeaking. All the sixth years looked up in curiosity to see whom the unfortunate soul who had decided to come late to Potions class was. 

'Ah…Mr. Malfoy. How considerate of you to show up,' Professor Snape remarked in a painfully sarcastic, flat voice as Malfoy glided into the room, looking perfect as usual, his long strides causing his black, expensive cloak to swirl with every step.

'Apologies Professor,' Draco spoke with ease. 'I was caught with some unexpected business.' He gave a curt nod and Snape turned to face the class. It was only a Slytherin who could get away with coming late to Potions with nothing more than a remark.  

'Mr. Malfoy is an advanced Potion maker and has been granted a position as Potions teacher assistant. For a class credit, he will be helping me, help the…considering most of you _are_ Gryffindors, many of you whom aren't as, shall we say, skilled at Potions as Mr. Malfoy here,' Snape's lip curled upwards in a smirk as he saw most of the Gryffindors snarl with displeasure. 

'Take a seat Mr. Malfoy,' Snape said, waving his hand as a gesture of, 'choose anywhere you like' and sat back down at his desk, where he seemed to be busying himself with large stacks of old dusty looking volumes of books.  

As Malfoy passed by Ginny's cauldron, Ginny held her breath, concentrating on skinning the woobaloo in front of her. So far he hadn't even acknowledged her presence, perhaps he _wasn't_ planning anything, and she was simply being paranoid. Passing Ginny's cauldron Malfoy moved his arm quickly to his side, causing the woobaloo remainders to drop into her cauldron 'accidentally'. What had been a calming blue colour in the cauldron began to bubble with a red rage. Ginny, seeing this, cocked her head sharply to look into Draco's eyes.  The sides of his pale, thin lips were twisted into a smirk, and his brow was raised. He was already two more strides out of her reach as he slid into a chair in front of a cauldron no more than two meters away from her own. She glared at him for a moment, red creeping to the sides of her face before the sudden loud, 'POP!' her potion made got her attention and she concentrated on getting it to stop bubbling.  

Once Ginny had gotten her potion under control (well, it was still red but at least it had stopped bubbling) she turned back to glare at Draco. Draco's face was set in an innocent (not that he could pull off the innocent look very well) smile, his eyes sparkling with a malice that much resembled a small boy whom had just pulled at a little girls pigtails and ran away. 

'Very mature,' Ginny mouthed, her eyebrows set in an expression letting Draco know of the sarcasm dripping off these words. 

Draco suddenly ran a hand down his blonde slicked hair slowly, his eyes became cold and calculating as he let his eyes drape over Weasley's form. Ginny shifted slightly under the oversized cloak, grateful for it and feeling uncomfortable, turned away from Draco's stare. Ginny slowly picked up the small blade in her fumbling hands and gripped the handle hard, once again attempting to skin this funny looking creature. Slowly she let the blade sink under the skin. She shuddered slightly, not because of the green blood dripping on the cuffs of her robes, but the fact that she could still feel Draco staring at her back. She bit her lip and breathed deeply, chancing a glance back at Malfoy - he was indeed still staring at her. His glare, though, had changed completely. His grey eyes were half narrowed into slits, staring directly into Ginny's chocolate ones, a seductive sly expression on his face. Ginny felt her stomach turn as she watched him for a long moment until his lip curled into a knowing smirk and he raised a brow. 

'Stop it,' she mouthed, but his expression only got deeper, eviler…

Ginny turned back to her woobaloo and began furiously skinning the creature, cutting big, uneven pieces, but she didn't notice. She could feel his glare piercing, burning her back. She looked over her shoulder to find him still staring. 

'Quit it, Malfoy!' Ginny yelled this time, not being able to take it anymore. Professor Snape cocked his head upwards, his eyes looking away from the old, dusty book through the curtain of black greasy hair at Ginny and walked over to her, as Draco sank back onto his chair, looking satisfied. 

'Miss Weasley! What is the explanation for this!?' Ginny wasn't sure if he was referring to the potion gone wrong or her sudden outburst. 

'What did Malfoy do, Miss. Weasley?' Snape asked, as if reading her mind. 

'He…he…was looking at me,' Ginny choked out, her heart beating faster. She shot a look at Draco but he was only smiling devilishly. 

'Watching you Miss. Weasley? I would hardly call that an excuse to interrupt my class. Five points from Gryffindor,' Snape snapped.

'But sir!' Ginny began to complain, forgetting herself for a moment. 

'Make that 10 points **and** a detention, _Miss_ Weasley,' Snape gave her the twisted smile he always did that came from the enjoyment of punishing a Gryffindor. 

All the students that had been listening scowled at Ginny, or at least the Gryffindor ones. Not that it was any surprise that Snape should take points from Gryffindor for the most ridiculous things. Ginny frowned and muttered to herself, refusing to look at Malfoy for the rest of the class. 

As the class thankfully ended, Ginny passed by the Professor's desk and handed over a flask filled with a green liquid, which was as close as she had gotten it to be the proper colour. She sighed with relief as she stepped out of the class, placing her bag onto her back. Malfoy was still inside talking to Snape and didn't have a chance to catch up with her. 

'Ginny!' Harry greeted her as the seventh years began to fill the space in front of the Potion's room for their next class. 

'Hey Gin!' Harry was shortly followed by Ginny's brother, who was holding hands with Hermione. She gave Ginny a smile. 'Hi,' she said, and they walked into the class together. To Ginny's surprise, Harry was still standing in front of her. 

Harry smiled his cute, adorable smile and attempted without much success at taming his jet black hair. Ginny couldn't help the blush that crept onto her cheeks as he bent down to meet her at eye level, his irresistibly emerald green eyes staring deeply into hers. 

'Umm, do you think we could talk later, Ginny?' he asked as he noticed Professor Snape was about to begin his lesson, trying to settle the students. Ginny giggled slightly but kept her cool. 'Of course Harry, I'll see you later in the common room.' 

'Great,' Harry smiled at her and then glanced back into the classroom, 'Gotta run, talk to you soon,' and with that he dashed into the classroom, giving Ginny a final wave before the door was closed. Ginny was left with butterflies flying around in her stomach, her cheeks glowing pink and her step a little wobbly. 

'I see we're still following the hero boy like an obedient puppy,' Malfoy drawled, his voice cold and cruel as he stepped out of the corner he had been looming in.    

Ginny's giggly, stupid, "schoolgirl-with-a-crush" expression disappeared as she heard Draco's comment. 

'I don't follow Harry like an obedient puppy!' she retorted, 'he was the one who talked to me!'

'Of course, Harry!' Malfoy did an over the top impression of Ginny and smirked. 

Ginny looked at him, with a less than amused gaze, her arms folded over her chest. 

'What's the matter Malfoy, jealous?' 

Malfoy scoffed.

'Please Weasley, don't make me laugh. Why on earth would I be jealous of good ol' mighty Potty over there?' he raised a brow as he spit out the words. 

'Of course you're not jealous,' Ginny remarked in a tone that Draco couldn't tell if was genuine or sarcastic. Ginny began to walk away, stalking down the hallways. Did she expect him to go after her? Draco growled slightly, feeling frustrated and stalked off in the opposite direction of Ginny. 

*      *      *

Later that night as Ginny's roommates headed off towards the Great Hall for dinner, Ginny strode down the flight of steps towards the dungeons, dressed in a pair of muggle jeans and a light blue tank top, her black cloak draped across her shoulders. After all, the dungeons were incredibly cold, especially at night. She refused to wear her uniform when she didn't need to, and she didn't consider detention a uniform wearing occasion. Her long, amber locks were let down, reaching her mid back, and they bounced as she shuffled down the long, cold stone hallways of the dungeon, dimly lit by the torch light. 

Ginny had just turned a sharp corner when a tall figure blocked her path. 

'Weasl-ugh-Ginny,' the voice snaked around Ginny's ears and she froze, looking at the much taller, slim figure standing in front of her, blocking her path. There was a small awkward silence as Ginny stood there, knowing what to say but unable for some reason to say it. Ginny bit her lip nervously.  

The figure finally stretched out its hand to shake Ginny's,

'Blaise Zabini,' she introduced herself with a delicate scoff. 

Ginny looked at the tall woman, her dark hair was up in a tight, high ponytail, and she was wearing her robes. Something about the way her lips were twisted made Ginny uneasy.  

'I know,' Ginny said, and stared at Blaise's hand a few moments before she hesitantly shook it.

Blaise's violet eyes pierced through the little girl but softened as she felt how intimidated the girl was by her.

'You do, do you?' Blaise asked, a bit surprised. Blaise eyed the girl warily for a moment and tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. A sudden smile playing on her lips, she opened her fine pale lips, lowering them to Ginny's ear to say something; when the sudden clicking sound made by shoes on stone was heard just down the hall. Blaise's eyes narrowed into slits in frustration as she looked down at the youngest Weasley. In what seemed a bit of a rush she said, 'I'll find you later.' She slithered down the hallway, so quickly and elegantly that in seconds, Ginny was left standing alone in the hallway. It had happened so fast that for a moment Ginny thought that none of this had happened, that it had perhaps been a figment of her imagination.  

Ginny blinked a couple of times and bit down on her lip once again, and this time she felt it begin to bruise. She really had to stop that habit. "I'll find you later" didn't seem like something good coming from a Slytherin, let alone one she had never talked to. What had just happened, and what did Blaise Zabini want to talk about with her? Ginny shook her head and with newfound worry, tread down the rest of the hall towards the Potions classroom, which she found to be empty. She walked over and slid into one of the desks in the second row and waited for someone to come, fiddling with the loose seams of her robes as she did, new paranoia creeping its way into her head. 

It had to be only a minute later did the heavy door swing open and in walked a tall man, wearing expensive black robes with slicked back blonde platinum hair. He walked to where the professor's desk was, and sat down on his chair. Raising his feet onto the desk, he smiled a crooked smile at Ginny, his eyes glinting with amused malice.

'Welcome to detention, Weasley,' Draco Malfoy smirked as he watched Ginny groan and sink back into her chair. 

-fin of chapter 3


End file.
